Morning, April 25 Go To Evening Reading
“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
—Song of Solomon 2:10
Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! Fair weather is smiling upon the face of the earth, and he would not have me spiritually asleep while nature is all around me, awaking from her winter’s rest. He bids me, “Rise up,” and well he may, for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness. He is risen, I am risen in him, why should I cleave unto the dust? I would rise towards him from lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations. He calls me by the sweet title of “My love” and counts me fair; this is a good argument for my rising. If he has thus exalted me and thinks me hence comely, how can I linger in the tents of Kedar and find congenial associates among the sons of men? He bids me, “Come away.”
Further and further from everything selfish, groveling, worldly, sinful, he calls me; yea, from the outwardly religious world which knows him not and has no sympathy with the mystery of the higher life, he calls me. “Come away” has no harsh sound to my ear, for what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away, but I am taken among the thorns and cannot escape from them as I would. If possible, I would have neither eyes, ears, nor heart for sin. Thou callest me to thyself by saying, “Come away,” this is a melodious call. To come to thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after a long labor, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But Lord, how can a stone rise? How can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me, draw me. Thy grace can do it. Send forth thy Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time behind me and, indeed, come away.
Go To Morning Reading Evening, April 25
“If any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him.”
—Revelation 3:20
What is your desire this evening? Is it set upon heavenly things? Do you long to enjoy the high doctrine of eternal love? Do you desire liberty in very close communion with God? Do you aspire to know the heights, depths, lengths, and breadths? Then you must draw near to Jesus and get a clear sight of him in his preciousness and completeness: you must view him in his work, in his offices, in his person. He who understands Christ receives an anointing from the Holy One, by which he knows everything. Christ is the grand master key of all the chambers of God: no treasure house will not open and yield all its wealth to the soul that lives near Jesus. Are you saying, “O that he would dwell in my bosom?” “Would that he would make my heart his dwelling place forever?” Open the door, beloved, and he will come into your souls. He has long been knocking, and all with this object, that he may sup with you, and you with him. He sups with you because you find the house or the heart; you are with him because he brings the provision. He could not sup with you if it were not in your heart, you finding the house; nor could you sup with him, for you have a bare cupboard, if he did not bring provision. Fling wide, then, the portals of your soul. He will come with that love which you long to feel; he will come with that joy into which you cannot work your poor depressed spirit; he will bring the peace which now you have not; he will come with his flagons of wine and sweet apples of love, and cheer you till you have no other sickness but that of “love overpowering, love divine.” Only open the door to him, drive out his enemies, give him the keys of your heart, and he will dwell there forever. Oh, wondrous love brings such a guest to dwell in such a heart!
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
April 25: Bound for the Promised Land
Joshua 14:1–15:63; 2 Corinthians 11:16–23; Psalm 54:1–7
Faith is not just about being faithful; it’s also about trusting in God’s faithfulness.
For years, God dealt with His people's confused and waning nature while they were in the wilderness. They wondered, “Will God actually do what Moses has told us?” They had seen God repeatedly act on their behalf, but they continued to grow frightened and faithless. In return, the first generation that left Egypt never saw God's promises. Instead, a later generation witnessed His faithfulness.
In Joshua 14:1–15:63, we see God fulfilling His words. Caleb and Joshua get a chance to witness this faithfulness, but the Hebrews who doubted that God would act on their behalf did not (Josh 14:6–15; also see Num 13:25–14:45). This is an incredible moment: these two men had watched the failures of their elders and led their peers and people younger than them so that they could witness the faithfulness of God together. You can almost hear them singing, “It is well with my soul.”
Faith is a two-way street. We are to be faithful, but we must also believe in God’s faithfulness. God will do what He has told us He will do. He will act upon His word as He did with Joshua and Caleb.
We will be able to look back upon the events in our lives and say, as the psalmist does, “I will freely sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Yahweh, because it is good. Because he has delivered me from all trouble” (Psa 54:6–7).
Since we know that day will come, why should we not freely sacrifice to Him now? He will overcome our opposition. Why should we not boldly proclaim, as the old hymn says, “I am bound for the promised land,” and use it as leverage to say, “God will be faithful, so there is no reason we shouldn’t be”?
God has bound us to His faithfulness; Christ’s death and resurrection show He blesses us beyond measure. So, let’s be bound to God with the knowledge that we are bound for the heavens He promised.
In what ways has God been faithful to you? How can these moments be a reminder to you to be faithful now?
John D. Barry
John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).
April 25th
Instant in season
Be instant in season, out of season. 2 Tim. 4:2.
Many of us suffer from the morbid tendency to be instant “out of season.” The season does not refer to time but to us. “Be instant in, out of season,” whether we feel like it. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us will do nothing forever and ever. There are unemployables in the spiritual domain, spiritually decrepit people who refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired. The proof that we are rightly related to God is that we do our best, whether inspired or not.
One of the great snares of the Christian worker is to make a fetish of his rare moments. When the spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you say—‘Now I will always be like this for God.’ No, you will not; God will take care of you if you are not. Those times are the gift of God entirely. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best, you become an intolerable drag on God; you will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously inspired. If you make a god of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life and never come back until you do the duty that lies nearest you and have learned not to make a fetish of your rare moments.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).
April 25
I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying, " Fear not; I will help thee.
Isa. 41:13
Don’t try to hold God’s hand; let Him hold yours. Let Him do the holding, and you do the trusting.
H. W. Webb-Peploe
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
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